Kitsa goes to the Air Force Museum

[Kitsa]

I live near the National Air Force Museum. It's something to do. Admission is free.

I go for the artsier stuff, like the art on planes and wartime posters, and the creative stuff like the various contraptions POWs have MacGyvered out of tin cans and soap. There's also a new holocaust exhibit there I plan on going back to.

The one thing that consistently pisses me off is how dark it is in there...makes things very hard to photograph, although I'm sure they have to preserve delicate materials.

De planes!


12-way mousetrap made of wire and tin cans in a POW camp.



Japanese-made "surrender now" leaflets...


A lifesize diorama of a guy failing flight school:



Either their American Neutrality exhibit wasn't finished yet, or they were trying to make some sort of statement, still not sure.




Concentration camp map drawn by a prisoner.




Student holocaust art.




Open bomb bay doors of Bockscar, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. :america

It was a little uncomfortable because a lot of Japanese tourists were standing around taking pictures of it.




Freaky ass bass drum from the French military. Why it had this face on it was never explained. I'm assuming it's a caricature of someone. (EDIT: Yes, I realize it's probably the kaiser who gets whacked in the face, but I didn't know if it was him specifically or just a general germanic caricature)



Ballistic Missiles. These things were fucking ENORMOUS. If you don't believe me, squint at the bottom center to see the tiny people and tiny railing on the second floor.



Well yeah, I guess it is:




"40 Men or 8 Horses" freight car used to transport men to the front, among other things.




There was also an Air Force One that you could take a bus to go see, but you had to have government-issued ID and the wait was about 2 hours, so we decided we didn't need to see it that badly.


Foy's, the nifty halloween place, is very nearby but we found out they're closed on Sundays




YOU'RE WELCOME.

[Zhukov]

I like the wax models, especially the one of the guy failing his flight school. Great stuff. The ICBMs are also awesome.

Oh, and the guy on the drum is Der Kaiser.

[Kitsa]

Is it? I figured it was something of that ilk, but he was so dark I didn't know if that was on purpose or aging of whatever pigment they used.

There were handwritten inscriptions all over the drum, but most were just "so and so was here" in French and didn't really reference the (obviously handpainted) picture specifically.

I love the dioramas too. When I was a little kid I wanted to be the person who painted them and set them up.

[Zhukov]

Oh come on, the moustache and iron cross didn't give it away? If it's not the Kaiser, it's generic-Hun-001.

You make me want to go to the museum here and take some photos of the wax convicts they have set up.

[Kitsa]

"generic hun-001" was more what I was thinking.

If you ever find yourself in Middleofnowhere, Ohio, I recommend this place. Can't beat free, although as an Australian you won't be able to see Air Force One.

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

You should made a bunch of kids books of your adventures.

Kitsa goes to the ______ could really do well.

I can't see any of the pictures right now but in my mind they're animated.

[Babs]

I could definitely picture a Kitsa at the Dayton Air Force Museum.

I feel like everyday I see you, but then again I think every red head is you.

[Kitsa]

I get that a lot.

I am not in your town often. I have a second cousin who lives there or something but I never visit. I am in Columbus frequently, so it's possible.

[Pentegarn]

Great, now I will assume every red head is Kitsa

[Zhukov]

I was watching a documentary on deforestation in Indonesia, and the every time I saw a wheelbarrow full of orangutans I thought of Kitsa.

[Kitsa]

again, I get that a lot.

[Babs]

I swear I saw you before at a Steak n Shake. I wanted to go up and say something but I'm pretty sure I would of gotten "What the hell's a Kitsa" as a response.

[captain516]

Pretty neat stuff. That Mousetrap is especially amazing.

[WhiteRat]

As a former Airman, I shed a tear of pride.

The museum outside Eglin AFB in Fort Walton Beach, FL is good stuff as well. I'll try to post pics from the last time I was there soon.

[Kitsa]

The rare times I go to Steak and Shake it's usually the drive-through.

[Rez]

i went there a couple of years ago! it's too great

[Otto]

I remember going to the Smithsonian once to look at the history of aviation exhibit and the Enola Gay exhibit was full of Japanese Tourists. I think the funniest part were the teenage girls smiling and posing in front of the replicas of the bombs.

[Kitsa]

yeah, that's kind of fucked.

[Sethomas]

My girlfriend was in the Chair Force ROTC until they discovered how bad her eyesight is. We drove to the Dayton/Cincinnati metropolitan area and instead of looking at a romanticized diorama of the life that she missed out on, we went to King's Island then bought camel meat at Jungle Jim's. Hint: if you can find a time when school is in session and the general population is suffering from an abject lack of disposable income, there is no line whatsoever to ride The Beast.

[Fathom Zero]

Amen. The Beast is well worth the trip.

[Sethomas]

I haven't been to Wright Patterson in years. I remember as an 11-year-old, my favorite things were a patch from Von Richtofen's triplane and some plaque talking about "Puff, the Magic Dragon" for reasons I never understood. And as a 7-year-old, I bought some astronaut freeze-dried ice cream and I tried to make it into a rootbeer float by shoving it into a lukewarm can of Barq's.

[Kitsa]

I might go back soon, if all goes as planned.

[Kitsa]

Went back today...not that badly crowded for a Saturday morning. There is something about that place, either the concrete floors or the fact that it's a huge walk through hangar after hangar, but it makes your feet hurt like all hell.

I wanted to play with the interactive land-on-an-aircraft-carrer challenge in the kids' area but there were kids playing with it, dammit. I COULD HAVE DONE IT, TOO! Instead, I held my kid up in the spacesuit for a photo op because it's just so droll.

Some more pics.

Upside-down in a dogfight exhibit...that mannequin must be strapped in there really well, but I entertained fun thoughts of museum patrons getting hit by dropping wigs/caps.



"Demilitarized" twin of the a-bomb dropped on Nagasaki. I know they go on at length about the museum being haunted, but to tell you the truth, the Bockscar exhibit is the only one I can't bring myself to get too close to.



Glenn Miller's cap and spare glasses.



Concentration camp uniform, which apparently is one of the very few in recognizable condition.



Artifacts from the Theresienstadt Ghetto.



Late-Generation Baader-Meinhof poster.



My own "highest step in the world" photo...this is in the Missile display, on the second level.



Air Force medal of honor. I took a picture of all the Air Force medals in a case, but it's hard to make them out individually.



Still failing flight school.

[kahljorn]

man that holocaust outfit would make a SMASHING pair of pajamas

I bet there were tons of people who were like, "WE MIGHT BE GETTIN GENOCIDED, BUT AT LEAST WE GOT THESE SWANK CLOTHES"